Starmer listening on Welsh funding needs - Morgan

Eluned Morgan said she had talked to Keir Starmer about her government's finances

Keir Starmer's government is in "listening mode" on the need to increase Welsh government funding and review how money flows from London to Cardiff, the first minister has said.

Eluned Morgan told the Senedd she had spoken to Chancellor Rachel Reeves about the Barnett formula, which governs how Wales, Scotand and Northern Ireland receive funding from Westminster.

Morgan said she had also spoken to the prime minister "about how we need support in the Welsh government, financially, and a review of the financial position".

She was responding to Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth, who asked why Labour had failed to honour a previous promise to scrap the Barnett formula.

Morgan was answering questions in the Senedd chamber for the first time since taking over as head of the Welsh government last month.

The Barnett formula decides the level of public spending in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, allocating funding based on population size and the powers devolved to them.

The amount of money is determined by whether the UK government increases or decreases funding for departments that cover areas that are devolved, such as health and education.

The formula was named after its inventor, former Labour chief secretary to the treasury Joel Barnett, and has been applied to Wales since 1980.

In 2017, the then Labour Welsh first minister Carwyn Jones said the Barnett formula could not be defended and Labour would scrap it and replace it.

On Tuesday, in Cardiff Bay, ap Iorwerth asked Morgan "why, then, in her recent letter to me, was the first minister still defending it, and why did Labour fail to keep its word?"

She said "the Barnett formula was a discussion that we've had already with the new chancellor" over the summer.

Morgan said she was also able to "talk to Keir Starmer about how we need support in the Welsh Government, financially, and a review of the financial position, which was promised in the Welsh [general election] manifesto".

"That is a conversation that we are starting, we'll see how far we get, but I can assure you that already they are in listening mode," she said.

The first minister added that "we'll all have to wait until we see that budget", when the chancellor will set out the UK Labour government's plans for spending and taxation, on 30 October.

Eluned Morgan took over from Vaughan Gething as first minister on 6 August

Ap Iorwerth accused Welsh Labour of failing to "stand up to its London masters and fight for Wales" by opposing UK government controversial plans to restrict winter fuel payments to all but the poorest pensioners.

"This isn't standing up for Wales from the first minister, it's keeling over and putting party again before country," he said.

Morgan replied that she would "take responsibility for my actions here, and my responsibilities, but if you want to question Keir Starmer, you should have gone to Westminster".

That was a reference to previous plans, later abandoned, for ap Iorwerth to stand to be an MP.

Earlier, Welsh Conservative Senedd leader Andrew RT Davies also raised winter fuel payments with her.

He said he hoped that when speaking to Rachel Reeves she had highlighted "the genuine anger" over the policy and told her "that she had made the wrong policy decision and how this will affect 400,000 pensioners here in Wales, and take £110m worth of benefits away from some of the most vulnerable people in our society".

Morgan agreed "this is a really difficult, concerning time for a lot of pensioners in Wales" but added that the UK Labour government "has had to make some really difficult decisions".

The first minister said that Brexit has meant "exports have collapsed from the United Kingdom" and the previous Conservative government led by Liz Truss had "pushed up interest rate payments".

"All of these things happened, and now we've got to clear up the mess that you left," she said.